By ROY MORLIDGE
Beat Staff Writer
Tucked away in the back of Hayward’s Lone Tree Cemetery is a special memorial. This memorial isn’t dedicated to any one individual or to any specific event, but instead, it is dedicated to remembering the names of Alameda County’s fallen heroes. Sadly, the Fallen Officer and Firefighter Memorial carry a list of names that is still being added to today.
Lone Tree Cemetery is located at 24591 Fairview Ave. The memorial is located at the newly developed area at the back of the cemetery.
Erected by the Martin C. Kauffman Alameda County One Hundred Club in 2008, the Fallen Officer and Firefighter memorial honors the police officers and firefighters who have given their lives in the line of duty. On one side of the memorial is the touching poem, “The Monument,” written by Sgt. George Hahn (Ret.) of the Los Angeles Police Department. On the other side are the inscribed names of fallen officers and firefighters from Alameda County, starting from 1973.
These are the names of the officers and firefighters who are remembered:
Off. David George Guider – Oakland Police Department – October 2, 1973
Off. David John Branhan – Oakland Police Department – February 7, 1974
Off. David Edward Marks – Oakland Police Department – February 7, 1974
Off. Paul F. George – East Bay Regional Parks Police – June 4, 1974
Off. Kenneth L. McGregor – East Bay Regional Parks Police – June 4, 1974
Chief William M. Cann – Union City Police Department – August 29, 1974
Off. David William Jones – Fremont Police Department – June 6, 1976
Lt. William Elliott – Oakland Fire Department – January 17, 1979
Off. Michael J. Faulkner – Oakland Police Department – June 27, 1981
Off. Ramon Irizarry Jr. – Oakland Police Department – January 18, 1983
Off. Robert James Davey Jr. – Alameda Police Department – March 3, 1983
Off. Chesley A. Stephens – Oakland Police Department – November 13, 1984
Dep. Sheriff Richard Walter Blancher – Alameda County Sheriff’s Department – February 23, 1986
Off. Timothy Joseph Smith – Fremont Police Department – January 2, 1987
Off. Benjamin Warren Worcester – Hayward Police Department – March 25, 1987
Firefighter Lance Petersen – Oakland Fire Department – November 1, 1990
Capt. Timothy Dale Baird – Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Fire – December 19, 1990
Off. John William Grubensky – Oakland Police Department – October 20, 1991
Battalion Chief James Merle Riley Jr. – Oakland Fire Department – October 19, 1990
Off. William Blea Grijalva – Oakland Police Department – December 15, 1993
Off. Miguel T. Soto – Oakland Police Department – June 22, 1994
Off. Timothy B. Howe – Oakland Unified School District Police Department – April 14, 1995
Off. Keith Stephen Konopasek – Oakland Police Department – July 8, 1995
Lt. Herbert Berkeley Stovall Jr. – Peralta Community College District Police Department – August 16, 1995
Firefighter Richard Sanders – Oakland Fire Department – January 15, 1997
Dep. Sheriff John Paul Monego – Alameda County Sheriff’s Department – December 12, 1998
Off. James Williams Jr. – Oakland Police Department – January 10, 1999
Firefighter Tracey Toomey – Oakland Fire Department – January 10, 1999
Lt. William Maloy – California Highway Patrol – November 8, 1999
Detective William Alberto Wilkins – Oakland Police Department – January 12, 2001
Firefighter Sekou Turner – Alameda County Fire Department – May 22, 2002
Off. William Seuis – Oakland Police Department – July 22, 2004
Off. Nels Daniel Niemi – San Leandro Police Department – July 25, 2005
Off. Brent William Clearman – California Highway Patrol – August 6, 2006
Off. John Miller – California Highway Patrol – November 16, 2007
At the time of our visit, thirty-five names were on the monument. Soon, four more names from the Oakland Police Department will be added to this memorial: Sgt. Mark Dunkin, Sgt. Ervin Romans, Sgt. Daniel Sakai, and Off. John Hege.
Perhaps the last lines of Sgt. Hahn’s poem says it best:
“I never dreamed it would be me;
And with a heavy heart and bended knee;
I ask for all here from the past;
Dear God, let my name be the last.”
